Caydon’s 27-Story Apartment Tower Adds to Midtown Mix

HOUSTON – (By Cynthia Lescalleet for Realty News Report) – Housing in Midtown is going up – in both number of residential units and in the height of buildings accommodating them.

As the first apartment tower project out of the ground in the redeveloping neighborhood, Australia-based developer Caydon’s $200 million 27-story apartment tower at 2850 Main St. recently hit the half-way point in its construction. The company showcased the building’s bones and a fully loaded Euro-style model unit to media earlier this month.

The tower, named “2850,” has 360-degrees of views and features 357 units (mostly one-bedrooms), a 13,000 SF flank of ground-floor retail spaces, some cross-functional space for possible co-working, and a half-acre amenity deck on the eighth level, where residents will find a pool with swim-up bar, fitness center, separate yoga studio, outdoor kitchen and gathering spaces, and a “backyard” with knoll. Meanwhile, the top floor devotes 4,000 SF to a sky lounge overlooking Midtown Park, which opened a year ago.

Several floors should be ready for pioneering residents by August 2019, with completion in November 2019. Units range from 550 SF to 1,200 SF. Groundbreaking was in November 2017.

Designed by Ziegler Cooper Architects, the 342,000 SF apartment tower is the first U.S. project for Caydon, which now owns four acres in Midtown. The Melbourne-based company initially acquired the block formerly home to the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority three years ago and has subsequently picked up two adjacent parcels for more mixed-use redevelopment in the future. Those plans were not part of the tour.

The tower site, at Main and Drew, is located on Metro’s light rail line linking downtown and Texas Medical Center. Midtown Park is across the street, where its nearly three acres accommodate greenspace, an open air theater, public art and places for people — with or without pets — to hang out. The MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theater Houston) is nearby, as are a growing number of restaurants, bars and other distractions targeting the neighborhood’s millennial-prevailing demographics.

Midtown’s residential population is nearing 10,000, double that of 2012, according to Midtown Management District.

As he led the property tour, Caydon COO Derreck LeRouax said the project location and design interpret the company’s long-standing emphasis on “living outside the living room.” Melbourne’s lifestyle is outdoor-focused, he explained, so community walkability — and a reason to do so — were project factors here.

Likely tenants for the retail space draw from restaurants and other “experiential” uses, he said. The two-story retail bays offer some play in interior layout.

Caydon principal Joe Russo said the proximity of Midtown Park played a big role in site decision making. “With Midtown Park set to become the heart of Midtown, we saw the vision and benefits that the park will bring to the community. We feel Midtown is gentrifying and are riding the wave,” Russo said in an email.

Houston was one of five cities Caydon considered for its inaugural U.S. project, LeRouax said. Other residential projects subsequently announced are in Seattle (condos) and San Diego. The company has $5 billion in the development pipeline globally and $2 billion completed, he said.

Elsewhere in Midtown, other high-rise housing has been announced and started, including a 29-story tower, also on the Metro rail line, at 3300 Fannin, developed by PMRG and AECOM Capital.

RNR

Texas-based RealtyNewsReport.com covers regional and national news of significant trends and transactions in commercial and residential real estate. The publication was founded by Ralph Bivins, an award-winning journalist with extensive experience in print, broadcast and online media. Bivins recently received a number of awards in the 66th Annual National Association of Real Estate Editors Journalism Competition.